FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. In James Burmeister's world, a spider-webtattoo was like a soldier's combat medal, a sign that the bearer hadpassed a crucial test, had proved his mettle on the field of battle.
Barely 20 years of age and on his first Army posting, at FortBragg, the gangling private had not yet seen combat. No ribbons hungfrom his scrawny chest. But this month, police say, Burmeister, anerdy looking man in glasses who struck some as a loner, set out toearn a spider web tattoo.
He completed his mission shortly after midnight, Dec. 7, policesay, when he pumped six bullets into the heads of Michael James, 36,and Jackie Burden, 27, two blacks he found at random in a blackneighborhood near downtown.
The killings, which shocked this city and sparked a massiveinvestigation of extremist activities in the Army's ranks, pulledback a curtain on a troubling but little-examined aspect of militarylife - its infiltration by violent racial hate groups.
Officials at Fort Bragg insist that the number of soldiers herewho participate in neo-Nazi and racist skinhead activity is small -perhaps about a dozen.
Burmeister and his friends, while apparently not officiallyaffiliated with any national group, were part of the local racistskinhead subculture. By day, they moved in lock-step through thedisciplined world of the military, training alongside blacks, Asiansand Latinos. At night, they doffed their Army fatigues and donneduniforms of a different type - the jackboots, leather jackets andNazi insignia of Hitler-loving skinheads.
Police say the rented room where Burmeister illegally lived offbase was a Nazi shrine covered in flags and littered with racistpamphlets and tracts on Hitler - even a book on bomb-making.
"The duty of the American soldier is to protect the Americanpeople, not to put any one or two of them in fear of their lives,"U.S. Army Secretary Togo West said last week as he decried theshootings.
Army officials acknowledge that, earlier this year, a supervisorspotted a "Nazi-like medallion" hanging from the private's neck. Inhis report, the supervisor said he had instructed Burmeister to takeoff the medallion. Then, in August, Burmeister reportedly spatracial slurs during a fight with a black soldier. The same night, afellow soldier complained of a Nazi flag hanging in Burmeister's roomon the base.
After the fight, the Army revoked Burmeister's securityclearance and his commander counseled him about his activities, butdid not refer him to the Army office that deals with racial problems.
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